New York City Starts Police Department Unit to Monitor Far-Right Extremism

The New York Police Department unveiled a new unit designed to track far-right and extremist hate groups. Within the department’s intelligence bureau, the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism team will investigate terror threats mostly focused on groups like the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi organization. The unit is believed to be the first of its kind in a local police department, announced the same week as a mass shooting targeting the Jewish community in Jersey City, just across the river from New York. A report by the Anti-Defamation League found that 50 people across the country were killed by extremists in 2018, with all of the perpetrators holding far-right ideologies. It isn’t known how many people are in far-right groups in New York City, but NYPD is concerned that the city is a target for people who come from farther away, said Katherine Sizemore, an intelligence analyst for the new unit. “Who do they see as being the threat to the society they want to create — this white ethnostate? A city like New York City, where you have all of these races and ethnicities and religions all in one place. That’s the threat,” she said. Thomas Galati, the chief of the department’s intelligence bureau said that they will use similar tools to what the city already uses to track terrorist threats, including tracking internet message boards. “There are people we’re definitely concerned with in the tristate area. It’s our job to identify them and make sure they’re not acting out,” he said. John Miller, the commissioner of the intelligence division, said that the unit is the only one in the city designed to monitor political activity that could become violent (although the NYPD has in the past also surveilled political movements like Black Lives Matter). Miller said far-right extremism needs action now. “You can wait for that terrible thing that has a terrible impact on human life to happen in New York City. Or you can look at those things that are happening in all those other places and say, ‘Let’s organize a more focused effort to detect and prevent that now.’,” he said. [New York Times; Politico]

JERSEY CITY SHOOTING | Authorities said Thursday they are investigating a mass shooting targeting a Jewish kosher deli in Jersey City, New Jersey as “potential acts of domestic terrorism.” Three bystanders and a police officer were killed during a long firefight on Tuesday, as were the two suspects. One suspect, David Anderson, had some connection to the Black Hebrew Israelites, which is categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. "We believe the suspects held views that reflected hatred of the Jewish people as well as law enforcement," Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said at a news conference on Thursday. “The evidence points to acts of hate. I can confirm that we’re investigating this matter as potential acts of domestic terrorism fueled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs.” [USA Today; CBS New York; Politico]

SLAVERY APOLOGY | A lawmaker in Georgia filed a resolution that would ask the state to formally apologize for slavery and Jim Crow. State Sen. Donzella James said that the resolution wouldn’t erase the past, but would help Georgians move forward. "So many people were stolen off the shores of Africa and brought here and put on blocks and sold like animals and no one has ever apologized for it. Nobody has every done anything about the inhuman treatment, the injustice that black people went through for slavery, and Jim Crow right after that," she said. The resolution calls for a “genuine apology” from governing institutions of the state in order to achieve racial reconciliation. “An apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and … help Georgians confront the ghosts of their past and to see ourselves in each other,” the resolution reads. [WGXA]

MANDATORY MINIMUMs | A last-minute addition to a package of criminal justice reform bills in Pennsylvania reduced its scope by reinstating mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain crimes. The measures would create a parole advisory committee for counties and expand compensation for victims of crime, as well as reinstating mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of sexually assaulting minors and for possessing guns with a felony. Republican state Rep. Paul Schemel, who opposes the amendments to the package, said that nearly every other state is eliminating mandatory minimums. “We have judges. We have sentencing guidelines. We should let them do their work,” he said. State Rep. Dan Miller, a Democrat, said that even for very serious crimes, mandatory minimums aren’t appropriate because they have been shown to disproportionately lengthen the sentences of black defendants. “Mandatory minimums are not criminal justice reform…especially in how it impacts people of color and people of limited economic means,” he said. State Rep. Rob Kauffman, a Republican who sponsored the amendment, was not convinced. “I don’t see color. I like to not get into that when I’m talking about public policy issues,” he said. [WHYY; Pennsylvania Capital-Star]

KENTUCKY EDUCATION | On his first day in office, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order removing all the members of the Board of Education before their terms expire in order to appoint new members. The ousted leaders challenged his order in court, arguing that they cannot be removed without cause, but were denied by a circuit court judge. Rich Gimmel, a removed member, said they now plan to appeal. "I think Governor Beshear is setting a dangerous precedent with his action, and I think it's a precedent that's going to be regretted if it is not challenged. This is something that's going to be regretted by Republicans and Democrats into the future,” Gimmel said. Beshear, who ran on a platform of education reform, said the circuit court made the right decision. “On my first day in office, I replaced the Kentucky Board of Education because we must have a board and commissioner that value public education. [The Circuit Court] pointed out that the Supreme Court has already ruled that a governor has this authority. Let’s move together as one Commonwealth to commence a national search for the very best commissioner of education,” he said. [Louisville Courier-Journal; WLKY]